Category: WEb Design

After the introduction of the web, the primacy of web design could not be ignored. The first was the baby of TimBerners-Lee of CERN, (one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research) when he created a global hypertext project, which he christened as the World Wide Web defined as “a wide area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give access to a large universe of documents.”

Web design, though now associated with graphic design arises from technological advancements of the browser in particular. Starting with the Mosaic to Internet Explorer and beyond, web browsers have helped web design evolve at a rapid pace.

Today, companies vie with each other and are constantly improving on their web design. And this is not surprising because first impressions, which are very important, are all formed on the basis of the design of the website.

There are seven components of a visually appealing web design

Colors – The website’s color should convey your company’s identity. Colors have emotional connotations so it is important you use the right color.

Fonts can also carry the meaning of what your company stands for like a serious looking font like Times Roman would be suitable for a news website rather than Freestyle Script.

Pictures and Graphics – Make the website visually appealing rather than lines of text only.

Simplicity- It should be simple not complex and simple not boring.

User friendly – Navigation should be easy and meaningful

Clarity – Images and text should be sharp

Consistency – Every page on the website should have the same heading, color, button styles to reinforce the subliminal message that the website is conveying through its design to the viewer.

The latest trends in web designing are listed below:

Web trends – Use of hero images (a large banner image, usually placed in the center of the web page and consists of image and text and may be static or moving). There use of minimal (use of negative space) flat design which incorporates the needs of mobile interface rather than a computer, video sliders or slide shows added to a web page, background video, CSS animation, front end frameworks and framework of ready components like Bootstrap, etc.

The latest web designs take care of the two most important concerns of UX (user experience) and mobile platforms, for which Flat designs are being preferred as they are easy to download and basically have the visuals stripped to the basic levels.

Typography – A variety of typographies are available such as serif, sans serif and handwriting.

Material design, which is a set of Google design standards, that has separate elements like the layers concept in image editing software. More imagery and less text.

Dynamic storytelling – Telling a story through graphics supported by text.

Feedback, but from comments on social media pages rather than from the commenting system provided on the website.

We know there are countless website design companies out there each claiming to be the best in the domain. We also know that a vast majority of them are not worth the talk and we should not take them seriously. But at the same time, some of them are really good as they have a good team in place and they are familiar with latest trends and technologies in the domain of designing. We however need to search a lot to find one of them as without understanding our designing needs, we won’t be able to choose the best of service provider for sure.

So, first of all, we should check whether the designing company we want to take help from offers SEO optimization in the web design. If it did not, your website’s search engine performance would never reach the kind of level necessary to score well over the internet. Thus, your website won’t be crawled and indexed beyond a basic level thereby its rankings and visibility will get hit considerably. Such a company can never help your website get more traffic and thus, your goals of customer conversions won’t ever be realized for sure. After all, SEO is something no business can afford to miss ever.

Similarly, you should check whether the company you plan to hire offers unique custom solutions. After all, without a unique web design, how can you get an edge in a market growing by the minute? Similarly, you’d surely not want to hire a company whose designing prowess revolves around leveraging ‘readily available templates’. At the same time, the company should be able to design according to your business goals in mind. Your website needs call to actions (CTA) and domain-specific functionality to help sell products or services with ease. All this is only possible when the web company you hire knows your business and its specific goals.

Furthermore, you should trust and hire only a web designing company that uses the latest web technology available. Your website needs to be built using the latest software and language and it needs to be updated regularly to keep pace with the changing of technologies and trends in the web industry. Similarly, the site should be multi-browser compatible, should have ways to use rich media files and should be compatible across devices and systems. Likewise, the site needs to be enriched with responsive design as only this can enhance its mobile-friendly features. What’s more, the site should be designed to be compatible with future technologies.

In addition, you should hire only a design company that lets you make changes to the site on own. You should be in total control of the website so that you can update it as and when needed. Rather than calling out to designer every time for any changes, you must have control over every aspect of the site, be it content, images etc. so that getting them updated remains a breeze. In overall, you should keep all this in mind before hiring a designing company to get great results.

Now wonder, if all companies promise such good services, then why are there low-quality irksome websites? Who made those designs? The very same companies showing up in the search results. So, how does one filter out the rotten apples to reach the right firms? The crucial aspect you need to know before hiring a company is will they provide the things they promised.

Here are some factors to consider before hiring any firm:

1. Portfolio

All companies showcase their best websites in the portfolio section. It can help you judge the creativity quotient of their team. This area displays the real client work and truly reflects a firm’s design experience. Make sure that the web designer’s overall style in their portfolio matches with your requirements. Go through the websites displayed in their portfolio to ensure they are user-friendly, error-free and load fast.

2. Experience

The agency under consideration should have considerable experience in WordPress, ecomerce, WooCommerce, Magento and other similar technologies. Check whether the designer, who will actually work on your site, is well versed with all web technologies. If the project requires flash for an animated clip, the designer must be able to accomplish such task.

3. Timeline

Every project has a deadline or time range within which they have to be completed. Most companies show that they are committed to deliver their projects on time. Completion time doesn’t depend on the simplicity of project. Every site, whether simple or complex, needs at least 2-3 weeks to undergo all the processes right from the analysis stage to the testing phase. If someone claims that they can deliver you the project within 2-3 days, be suspicious. Hire someone who will demand appropriate time with respect to the project’s requirements.

4. Customer Service

Proficiency doesn’t matter if they are unable to respond to calls or emails in a timely fashion. If they are ignoring their clients during business hours, chances are they won’t meet the deadline and probably can’t provide better after-sales services. Prefer a firm that gives 24/7 customer service.

5. Communication Skills

Communication plays a vital role along with the actual website designing and programming. Simply steer clear of any individual who is unable to communicate well and responds late. You can evaluate their communicating efficiency through initial calls, emails or proposals.

6. Service Standards

All companies promise that they will provide clients with a suitable marketing strategy along with the designing/development solutions. Overall service means they’ll offer other digital solutions such as SEO, ecommerce, mobile compatibility and social media marketing to help your business succeed online. You need to find an agency which consists of a team of experts for every service promised.

These are the few qualities which a good web designing company should possess. Avoid firms which offer the lowest rates but no clarity on the project development progress. Instead, select one that meets your budget and technical requirements.

In the Middle East alone, around 528 million people have a mobile phone, and this number is expected to rise 39% by 2015. Nowadays, 94% of mobile owners in the MENA region use their smartphones to surf the internet. Therefore, now is the time to create a responsive design to have a mobile friendly website. If you are still suspicious about this decision, here is how a mobile version helps your website and business:

A mobile friendly website makes a website more accessible.

Mobile users access the internet whenever they want, and wherever they are. The main reason they browse the internet from their mobile phones, is the instant need and the inaccessibility of a desktop computer. A website that is not mobile friendly can push the visitors to abandon and look for another more convenient to navigate. For this reason, websites are developing responsive designs, to be accessible at any moment and with any device (smartphones, tablets).

A responsive design improves a website’s user experience.

When a website is browsed from a mobile or tablet, it switches from a horizontal layout to a vertical format causing a different display of text and images. Responsive web design (RWD) manipulates the site to properly fit the screen of the device used rather than maintaining the same structure and shrinking the images and text sizes. As a result, this automatic adaptation improves the user experience by providing a more convenient navigation and an easier way of exploring the website.

A responsive web design is cost effective.

Before the introduction of RWD, website owners used to create several versions of the same site to accustom to different sizes. This doubles and even triples the tasks as the content updates and source codes are done separately for each version. A responsive web design can adjust to all screen sizes for a single source code for your site, and a single content management system. In addition, one responsive website means one access to the analytics. Google analytics tools report insights of the different devices used to navigate the website.

A mobile friendly website increases sales.

While online buying is growing remarkably, more and more shoppers are using their mobile phones to purchase goods online. In 2013, 10% of the region’s online purchases were made via mobile, and this percentage is expected to reach 20% by 2015. Therefore, it would be a smart strategy for e-commerce websites to expand to mobile with a responsive design. This upgrade will, as mentioned before, improve the user experience, creating higher opportunities for completing an online sale.

A mobile optimized site empowers Google ranking.

In the MENA, around 96% of Internet users search on Google whenever they are looking for something. For this reason, all websites work hard on their SEO to appear in first results of Google search to get good exposure. A crucial step in optimizing a website is to create a responsive web design because, in general, Google detects if a website is mobile friendly and favors it when displaying results for searches made through mobiles devices. This is especially the case when the query is related to local services.

Not having a website in today’s time is a sure-shot way of falling behind the competition and ceding away the competitive advantage. This way, your business won’t have a web presence and fail to benefit from an ever-swelling marketplace where prospects multiply by the second. With no presence on the internet, businesses fail to reach to their target audience and can’t expect to gain anything on the front of brand awareness initiatives. This is how products and services or any other aspect of the business never reach to the intended audience. That’s why, a website is very important in today’s day and age.

The website in question should be designed keeping in mind the latest web design trends that are making an impact in the market. This is the only way to keep the business relevant in the eyes of those users who make up a formidable presence on the internet and often decide the fate of a business. Thus, you should find the ways to get awesome designs to keep the website worth attention grabbing on the internet. The first web design trend for your website should be to have a simple and fresh design, something which exudes uniqueness in every aspect.

Having simple design means the home page should look free of clutter but not devoid of information. Be it images, texts, videos or any other content used there, you should be careful not to overdo the information. The website should have clear call-to-action buttons so that upon landing on the website, users never feel any sense of confusion. Similarly, products and services should be showcased in a structured and organized way to keep the design as minimalist as needed. Likewise, good web designs are those that load faster and deliver unique navigation or browsing experiences to users on every occasion of their visit.

Further, websites should deliver easy accessibility to users as only this can serve the purpose of sharing information in the desired manner. At the same time, organized websites are what preferred by users and search engines alike and this aspect is something businesses should look into with a great care. Making a site organized means enriching it with attributes friendly to users. Only then can contents be consumed with ease by users giving sites more chances to succeed on the web. What’s more, only fresh and unique content should be there as ranking factors can’t be sidestepped.

In addition, websites should leverage responsive design as this is the only way to become friendly to mobile users. SEO is also a major design consideration no business can afford missing as this is how visibility in search engine happens. So, if a website lacks SEO-friendly features, it can then never achieve superior ranks in SERPs and this is how it will fail to realize its potential in true sense. In overall, these are some of web design trends to follow as not doing the same means your website will lag behind in a market which is increasingly growing competitive.

This can happen to anyone: you find a link to an item you need in the search engine, then click it, but close the page right away because the design of the website does not look interesting at all. On the other hand, you arrive at a striking site, but it is not difficult to navigate through it. The following is a list of eCommerce usability tips that can help anyone who likes to build an online store or enhance an existing one:

Simple System of Filters

Products may be available in a range of sizes and colors, as well as diverse types of packing. Even the most particular customers will be happy to use your site if it has a simple, clear filter system by different parameters. Look for examples into the filtering options offered by electronics online stores with a large consumer base.

Visible Search Line

When users visit an online store and do not find what they need or want, it is just natural for them to seek out the search field. For this reason, the search line should be visible.

In/Out of Stock

From the SEO viewpoint, it is not good to remove a product from the site when it is no longer available. However, from the business approach, it matters if visitors to your site get disappointed when they find what they need then add it to cart only to get a cold reply, which is “sorry but the item it out of stock”. In any case, the people and not the search engine bots bring you income. That is why your customers should always come first. Create a prominent section with information on the availability of products. This way, it could be easily seen. Also include the statement “Notify me by email when this item is back in stock”.

Shopping Cart

In general, there are 2 distinct ways of implementing a shopping cart. In the first one, the shopping cart shows up each time an item has been added. In the other one, you are only notified about the addition of another item. No matter what variant you like to use, put the shopping cart where customers can easily see it. Another option that other online stores offer is letting the shopping cart stay visible as users scroll down the page. The main point is to make everything as convenient as possible for customers who want to make a purchase on your site. In addition, make the shopping cart button look more attractive by attaching small images of items that have been added.

Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs are another useful, effective and navigating tool. They let users easily navigate across the site after they have just landed from the search engine results, move ahead fast and recognize the category construction. There are 2 variants of implementing bread crumb when they reveal the route that users have taken. These variants have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they also can be combined to be more creative – though no one has tried it up to now.

Content is the most important ingredient of a website because it enhances the value of your products and services you offered to your buyers. Your web design is inadequate without engaging content as this is the only thing that holds the patron on your website for a longer time. It is a long-time commitment and not only one-time campaign. Therefore, a well-established Website Designing Company will always suggest you, to give proper attention to the design as well as the content of your website. Here are some common types of content, every website must have, so, have a look and do add it to your website that improves its value.

Blog: Blog is the soul of your website that makes it enjoyable for the visitants. This is the most important form of content that is a must, which helps to educate and entertain your clients and give them the sense to get combined with your website and make a repeat visit. Besides, it also helps to improve the ranking of your website because every blog has unique content that is loved by the web spiders.

Products And Services: Another important type of content your website must have is, products and services that are offered by your company. It helps to provide enough information about your offered range to the clients and give them a purpose of purchasing it. However, make sure that the information you provide is true and relevant to what you offer.

News And Timely: This type of content helps to show your audience that your business is growing. This may help your clients to know about the latest update your website has to offer that attracts more and more people to it and increase your reputation among your clients.

Social Media: Last but not the least; Social Media require fresh and interesting content that more and more visitors likely to share, which increase the credibility of your website and helps to target a wider audience. Therefore, you have to give proper attention to it and try your best to give it a perfect blend of information, promotion and interesting material that your visitors likely to read.

These are some common form of content that every website must have to attract a number of customers to your website. The interesting, informative and unique content you post every time on your website feast the search engines and boost up the ranking of your website. So, always pick the best design for your website and don’t forget to add content on it.

If digital marketing and brand reassurance is the ultimate aim for assuring web presence and doing online business then the website plays a vital role in the whole process. It is a well-defined fact now that user-friendly web design is the master key to pulling traffic in a website. But how to make a user-friendly website! We had an analysis here.

Make the website easy to navigate

Unless a website is easy to navigate, it is difficult for website traffic to find actually what they want. Once the visitors find the navigation complicated, there is high chance that they will leave their navigation and may switch to other sites.
Therefore easy navigation is one of the prime qualities of a website that make the site absolutely according to perspective audience.

Super readability is a vital point

Readability is another prime factor that decides the scale of user-friendliness of a website. When a user/visitor can access information from a website with no effort or little effort, it becomes trendy and customer-centric website.

Three points can make a website user-friendly: These three are color, font, and formatting. These three points of website designing decide or create impact for traffic about its quality.

Loading time

Loading time one of the main factors that make a website user-friendly. Faster the website gets loaded, there is high chance that visitors will stay here. It has been surveyed globally that if visitors find that a website slow loading (more than one min) despite its quality info and user-friendly products, visitors switch off to another similar site. Also, it has been noted that most popular and these websites take in an average 7.25 seconds time to get loaded and it has been considered as a standard responsiveness.

Mobile friendliness

It is now an open fact that consumers doing online shopping mostly do their shopping from mobile. That is why they need mobile responsiveness as a part of their online shopping experience. Unless a website is completely responsive on mobile and other devices, it is real cannot be super responsive. If a website is non-responsive on mobile, it will no longer stay in the web world.

These are 4 main points that make it in accordance with an audience. While making a website, an expert web developer takes care of these four points that results in building a user-friendly website for delightful user experience and business success.

New Year is ready to knock your doors with new dreams, challenges, and opportunities for your business. No matter, how many mistakes you have done in your past year, it’s time to correct them all. This may give a kick-start to your career and let you touch the new heights in your business. The first thing you should keep in mind is that creating a website is not enough, you also have to spread it around the world, so, it can create opportunities. Marketing is a daunting task that you cannot overlook anyhow, so, here are some proven ways that can help you to market your website in 2017, which allow you to rock on the internet with your distinct identity.

Optimization Is The Key: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important and unforgettable factor for the success of your website. It may increase the visibility of your website, so, the first and foremost thing you need to do is optimize your web pages, content or social links for search engines. It helps to market your website in all over the world by the mean of increasing its ranking on different search engines.

Breathtaking Design That Catches The Eyes: Another way to market your website over the internet or intranet is by creating mesmerizing and inspiring design that catches the eyes of its visitors and pulls them to go through your website once. The design is the soul of your website that helps in its marketing. Always give a look and add functionality to your website that attracts human and web spiders as well.

Spread It To The World With Social Media: Nowadays, social media is ruling the market it helps to viral any news in a few seconds. So, you should also take its help to market your website. You can easily create your business pages on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and many more and get quality traffic to your website.

Content Is The King: Last but not the least method to market your website is by creating engaging and inspiring content to post on your website that gives your visitors a reason to come back. Always remember unique content not only open the doors for new visitors or retain the existing ones but also give search engines a reason to crawl your website, which in result increase its ranking.

These are some simple tips and tricks you can use to market your website in 2017. So, what are you waiting for? Use it and get ready to touch the new heights in your business.

If you’re thinking of hiring a website designer to help showcase your company’s products and services, you’ll probably be wondering where to start. And with many companies claiming to be the best in the business, it’s understandably a little perplexing.

But the good news is, competition in this industry is fierce, so there is bound to be someone who will bite your hand off for a chance to work with and grow your brand.

Web designers (like most creative types) are incredibly passionate about what they do. So if you know where to look, you’re likely to find someone who will grasp your business by the horns and make a success of your online marketing campaign – thus increasing your visibility.

With more and more businesses needing to stand out online to compete with new startups, expert web designers are in great demand – but that doesn’t mean there is a shortage of talent.

The best place to begin your search for a talented web expert is, of course, online.

Firstly, you’ll need to decide whether you want your designer to be a physical presence, or whether you’re happy for them to complete your project online. Both have many advantages and disadvantages, and the right choice for you will undoubtedly depend on the nature of your business.

Many web experts will invite a collaborative approach, inviting you to sit down with them and work out the best strategy for your brand. Others will be happy for you to take a back seat. You’ll want to find someone who is flexible and understanding of your needs.

For instance, if you travel a lot, you’ll probably be better off with someone who can work remotely and keep you up to date via e-mail or phone. Generally you should be able to be as involved (or uninvolved) as you want.

You’ll also need to consider whether you’d like to hire an individual designer for the project, or whether to opt for a full marketing team. There are pros and cons to both options, both of which are explored below:

Hiring an individual web designer can prove more cost-effective than paying an established marketing company, but your results may not be as professional.

Plus, while many freelance designers come with great portfolios and impressive qualifications, you can never be totally sure of their credibility.

A marketing team, although, will normally come with years of experience and know-how under their belt. Not only will you be able to view their entire portfolio of past works online to get a feel for what they do, but you may also be able to check out reviews and testimonials to back this up.

More established companies might also be accredited by other reputable sources, so you’ll know you’re in good hands. They may also have a policy such as working with you until you see an increase in your bottom line – which will guarantee great results.

Another benefit of hiring an internet marketing company and not an individual designer is that you’ll have the opportunity to use their other services.

So, not only will you end up with a visually stimulating and user-friendly site, you may also benefit from their other tried and tested marketing strategies, such as social media management, search engine optimisation, e-mail marketing and more.

A slick, well thought-out website is a great way to showcase yourself – particularly if you’re just starting out – so it’s worth investing some time and money into. Plus, once it’s been designed effectively, you will be able to use it for years to come as you build on your reputation and client base.f